Shang Qingxi Reveals China's Infrastructure Plans at McGraw-Hill Construction's 2010 Global Construction Summit

NEW YORK, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- More than 350 attendees gathered at McGraw-Hill's headquarters in New York today for the 2010 Global Construction Summit to participate in discussions about business development, trends, innovation and best practices with industry notables. Shang Qingxi, Deputy Chief Economist of China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd. (CRCC) and the keynote presenter on the first day of this two-day conference, shared China's infrastructure development plans that will address transportation needs for its increasingly industrial and urban population.

"By 2012, 1-2 hour traffic circles will be formed between the adjacent capital cities, half an hour to 1 hour traffic circles will be formed between the provincial capitals and their neighboring cities, and 8-hour traffic circles will be formed between the capital city of Beijing and most of the provincial capitals in China," said Shang Qingxi, addressing a standing-room only crowd. "As a developing country faced with economic development and the speeding of industrialization and urbanization, there is a great demand for railway transportation. Therefore there is a broad space for railway construction development."

CRCC is the largest engineering contractor for infrastructure in China and is involved in building high-speed railways and other infrastructure projects within China and around the world. Shang Qingxi noted that billions (USD) will go toward infrastructure projects over the next few years, "Since 2008, in order to cushion the impact of the financial crisis, the Chinese government put forward an investment plan of up to RMB4 trillion (equivalent to USD $58.7 billion), 37.5% of which will be utilized for the construction of major infrastructure projects such as railways, highways, airports, water conservancy, as well as urban power grid rehabilitation projects."

Panel speakers at today's Summit also addressed public-private partnerships, cross-border acquisitions, emerging markets, and Middle East market opportunities. In addition, McGraw-Hill Construction unveiled a new SmartMarket Executive Brief, India's Growing Construction Marketplace: Trends Driving Business Opportunities.

McGraw-Hill Construction's 2010 Global Construction Summit is the definitive international conference for the global construction industry. The theme of the two-day event held on April 7-8 is "Winning Business in World Markets." The biennial Summit is produced by McGraw-Hill Construction and the China International Contractors Association. Platinum sponsors include Bentley and Halcrow. AECOM, Astadia, CMiC, Hill International, Houlihan Lokey, Microsoft, Odebrecht, Parsons, Service Point, Turner Construction, and Zurich are silver sponsors. The American Institute of Architects, Business Monitor International, the Construction Users Roundtable, the Construction Federation of India, the Confederation of Indian Industry, O Empreiteiro, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Society for Marketing Professional Services, the U.S. Green Building Council and U.S.-India Business Council are supporting sponsors. For more information, visit http://construction.com/events/globalsummitny.

About McGraw-Hill Construction

McGraw-Hill Construction connects people, projects and products across the construction industry. For more than a century, it has remained North America's leading provider of project and product information, plans and specifications, and industry news, trends and forecasts. McGraw-Hill Construction serves more than one million customers in the $5.6 trillion global construction industry through Dodge, Sweets, Architectural Record, Engineering News-Record, GreenSource, and 10 regional publications. To learn more, visit www.construction.com or follow @mhconstruction on Twitter.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, Platts, Capital IQ, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw-Hill Construction and Aviation Week. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2009 were $5.95 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Construction